A single thread is insignificant. It has little structural integrity and is easy to break. A single thread is unworthy of praise and often goes unnoticed.
A single thread in a weave can bring the whole thing together. It adds strength, form and creates function. If that single thread fails, the whole system can start to fall apart.
We can all find meaningful ways to contribute. Our contribution doesn't need to be the whole cloth. It can be enough to be a single thread that contributes to a larger meaningful purpose.
Clarify your practice. Let your practice clarify you.
Showing posts with label form. Show all posts
Showing posts with label form. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Friday, December 29, 2017
The garden you tend to most.
By tending to others and the world around us, we tend to ourselves.
Our conception of who we are is quite limited and limiting. We conceive of ourselves as our bodies, our feelings and perceptions, our thoughts, beliefs and positions. We often feel separate from others, segregated to a lonely and isolated existence. We have a deep yearning for connection with nature and contact with others. Most of us can intuit that our conception of who we are is limiting. We feel that bondage.
The Buddha taught that the examination of the self begins with examining the five skandhas. The self is composed of these five skandhas, and by examining the five skandhas we can arrive at the wisdom of selflessness.
The first of the skandhas is the rupa skandha, or aggregate of form. The rupa skandha refers to not only our own physical form, but more generally to everything that we can see, hear, smell, taste or touch. All matter is rupa skandha. Our environment and all beings, the entire universe, all that appears and exists is rupa skandha, our aggregate of form.
Our own body is the result of our past actions, and thus the most karmically significant rupa skandha based on our past experience. Our own physical body is the garden that we tend to daily, that we look after the most and identify with. But our rupa skandha is not only our physical body, it is also the environment and world around us.
Start seeing all form as your form. Start seeing your 'self' as your setting, your neighborhood, your world. When we appreciate our rupa skandha in this way, we want to take good care not only of our own body, but the environment and beings around us.
Start by tending to your own physical body with gentleness, attentiveness and kindness. Extend that to your neighborhood and community. Extend that to the whole world.
Let your gentleness, attentiveness and kindness spread.
By tending to others and the world around us, we tend to ourselves.
Our conception of who we are is quite limited and limiting. We conceive of ourselves as our bodies, our feelings and perceptions, our thoughts, beliefs and positions. We often feel separate from others, segregated to a lonely and isolated existence. We have a deep yearning for connection with nature and contact with others. Most of us can intuit that our conception of who we are is limiting. We feel that bondage.
The Buddha taught that the examination of the self begins with examining the five skandhas. The self is composed of these five skandhas, and by examining the five skandhas we can arrive at the wisdom of selflessness.
The first of the skandhas is the rupa skandha, or aggregate of form. The rupa skandha refers to not only our own physical form, but more generally to everything that we can see, hear, smell, taste or touch. All matter is rupa skandha. Our environment and all beings, the entire universe, all that appears and exists is rupa skandha, our aggregate of form.
Our own body is the result of our past actions, and thus the most karmically significant rupa skandha based on our past experience. Our own physical body is the garden that we tend to daily, that we look after the most and identify with. But our rupa skandha is not only our physical body, it is also the environment and world around us.
Start seeing all form as your form. Start seeing your 'self' as your setting, your neighborhood, your world. When we appreciate our rupa skandha in this way, we want to take good care not only of our own body, but the environment and beings around us.
Start by tending to your own physical body with gentleness, attentiveness and kindness. Extend that to your neighborhood and community. Extend that to the whole world.
Let your gentleness, attentiveness and kindness spread.
By tending to others and the world around us, we tend to ourselves.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Different emanations.
Most people probably haven't heard of the tulku system in Tibet. A tulku is a recognized reincarnate lama or teacher, the Dalai Lama being the most famous and prominent of this generation. Often times at a very young age, children are recognized as being an emanation of a previous teacher. There are various ways that this recognition occurs, some legitimate, others not. Overall, the tulku tradition is broken and much can be said about just how broken it is.
But that is not really my concern, nor is it beneficial for our practice.
What is beneficial to our practice and our life is one particularly unique aspect of the tulku tradition. A single teacher can have five different emanations in their next life. They may take a single rebirth, but they could emanate in up to five ways. Those five emanations are called: body, speech, mind, activity and qualities.
Not many tulkus have done five. Actually, I can only think of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo as an example of all five.
How is this important for us? Why is it meaningful?
How many different emanations do you embody in this life?
Surely you take certain forms in order to carry out certain activities, but also take on different roles to meet different circumstances. You might take a certain stance at your work, and in your personal life prefer another posture.
The important point is that we are full of contradictions and tension and apparent inconsistencies. We don't need to embody a singular self, such a self isn't even truly real. We can take many forms in our life, each carrying out benefit in their own way and on their own time.
Regardless of the form you are taking, carry it onto the path. Let the path clarify confusion and give rise to wisdom. Dedicate the merit.
Perhaps most importantly, don't get stuck on the notion of you being just one thing. That is not who you are, it is a side of you and maybe a prominent part, but there is much more below the surface.
But that is not really my concern, nor is it beneficial for our practice.
What is beneficial to our practice and our life is one particularly unique aspect of the tulku tradition. A single teacher can have five different emanations in their next life. They may take a single rebirth, but they could emanate in up to five ways. Those five emanations are called: body, speech, mind, activity and qualities.
Not many tulkus have done five. Actually, I can only think of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo as an example of all five.
How is this important for us? Why is it meaningful?
How many different emanations do you embody in this life?
Surely you take certain forms in order to carry out certain activities, but also take on different roles to meet different circumstances. You might take a certain stance at your work, and in your personal life prefer another posture.
The important point is that we are full of contradictions and tension and apparent inconsistencies. We don't need to embody a singular self, such a self isn't even truly real. We can take many forms in our life, each carrying out benefit in their own way and on their own time.
Regardless of the form you are taking, carry it onto the path. Let the path clarify confusion and give rise to wisdom. Dedicate the merit.
Perhaps most importantly, don't get stuck on the notion of you being just one thing. That is not who you are, it is a side of you and maybe a prominent part, but there is much more below the surface.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Essence of the Madhyamaka.
Everything that appears and exists is dependently arisen.
Not realizing this true nature, we grasp at phenomena as real.
This confusion ties us to the churning of samsara.
Confused mind and appearances have not an atom of true existence,
they are but relative phenomena.
Mind is the creator of all appearances, the basis for all things arising.
All that appears and exists is merely mentally established!
Without realizing the primordial emptiness of whatever arises,
we remain trapped in a web of confusion.
Realizing the true nature of phenomena,
all phenomena are naturally liberated in their own place!
Form is not other than emptiness-
confused appearances are not other than the emptiness of our own mind.
Emptiness is not other than form-
The emptiness of our own mind is not other than the nature of confused appearances.
Our confused mind is naturally liberated in its own place!
This is the essence of the Madhyamaka.
This is the stepping stone to the Dzogchen view.
Not realizing this true nature, we grasp at phenomena as real.
This confusion ties us to the churning of samsara.
Confused mind and appearances have not an atom of true existence,
they are but relative phenomena.
Mind is the creator of all appearances, the basis for all things arising.
All that appears and exists is merely mentally established!
Without realizing the primordial emptiness of whatever arises,
we remain trapped in a web of confusion.
Realizing the true nature of phenomena,
all phenomena are naturally liberated in their own place!
Form is not other than emptiness-
confused appearances are not other than the emptiness of our own mind.
Emptiness is not other than form-
The emptiness of our own mind is not other than the nature of confused appearances.
Our confused mind is naturally liberated in its own place!
This is the essence of the Madhyamaka.
This is the stepping stone to the Dzogchen view.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
What are you?
You have a physical appearance, but you are not your appearance.
You have feelings, but you are not your feelings.
You have thoughts and ideas, but you are not your thoughts and ideas.
You have perceptions, but you are not your perceptions.
You have experiences, but you are not your experiences.
You have habits, but you are not your habits.
You have preferences, but you are not your preferences.
You have consciousness, but you are not your consciousness.
You have an 'I', but you are not your 'I'.
So what are you?
We bind ourselves when we get caught up in appearances. But we are not those appearances.
We are naturally liberated. Natural Buddhas.
You have feelings, but you are not your feelings.
You have thoughts and ideas, but you are not your thoughts and ideas.
You have perceptions, but you are not your perceptions.
You have experiences, but you are not your experiences.
You have habits, but you are not your habits.
You have preferences, but you are not your preferences.
You have consciousness, but you are not your consciousness.
You have an 'I', but you are not your 'I'.
So what are you?
We bind ourselves when we get caught up in appearances. But we are not those appearances.
We are naturally liberated. Natural Buddhas.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Vairocana
OM AH HUNG BHAGAVAN VAIROCANA OM
Vairocana is one of the Five Family Buddhas.
His pure land is Akanishta, meaning Unsurpassed, representing the true nature of reality in which emptiness and dependent origination are inseparable. His color is white, representing the activity of pacifying conflict, disease, problems and obstacles. His hands are in the mudra of teaching the Dharma holding a Dharma Wheel, or Dharmacakra- representing the continual motion and change that forever turns and brings about transformation and development.
Vairocana is the Buddha that represents completely purified ignorance. Ignorance is like a blank dullness, that state of unknowing where we don't know what to do to make our life meaningful. Vairocana represents the transformation of that ignorance into the wisdom of the true nature of reality, thoroughly understanding the nature of our own mind and the world around us and how we are to unite compassion and wisdom in order to fulfill our own aims and the aims of others.
He rides a lion possessed with all the major and minor marks. The lion is the sovereign of all animals. His sovereignty is not appointed by divine right or out of self-righteousness or self-promotion, it is the rightful authority to act. To not act would be to fall from wisdom into the ignorance of selfishness and fear. In this way, the lion is an unerring source of refuge and protection, carrying the bewildered and confused into the peaceful grove of clarity and insight.
In regard to our own mind and self, Vairocana represents the aggregate of form. We are all very attached to our physical bodies; how we feel, how we look. Our fixation on our own condition and state lead us down the rabbit hole of self-grasping and ignorance, further intensifying our fear and discontentment. As we purify this self-grasping and transmute it into wisdom and insight, we are able to break free from the confines of our own limited view and understanding. We can embrace a larger scope.
When we deeply contemplate and integrate the wisdom and symbolism of Vairocana, we can learn how to transmute ignorance and selfishness into an opportunity for wisdom and purpose. We are able to step outside of fear, doubt and uncertainty. We attain the awakened form of the Buddhas that transcends the confines of place and time. The form or shape of our life is one in which we guide, teach and lead others out of confusion and habitual patterns into wisdom and clarity. Our body becomes like a rainbow- apparent yet empty of existing in any fixed manner- dancing like an illusion that carries out the benefit of others, teaching them how to overcome conflict and problems, setting out the path and providing the support and resources to embody their own awakened form.
To attain such a state would be unsurpassed- for not only would you have fulfilled your own aims, but you would have fulfilled the aims of others.
Go ride that lion.
Vairocana is one of the Five Family Buddhas.
His pure land is Akanishta, meaning Unsurpassed, representing the true nature of reality in which emptiness and dependent origination are inseparable. His color is white, representing the activity of pacifying conflict, disease, problems and obstacles. His hands are in the mudra of teaching the Dharma holding a Dharma Wheel, or Dharmacakra- representing the continual motion and change that forever turns and brings about transformation and development.
Vairocana is the Buddha that represents completely purified ignorance. Ignorance is like a blank dullness, that state of unknowing where we don't know what to do to make our life meaningful. Vairocana represents the transformation of that ignorance into the wisdom of the true nature of reality, thoroughly understanding the nature of our own mind and the world around us and how we are to unite compassion and wisdom in order to fulfill our own aims and the aims of others.
He rides a lion possessed with all the major and minor marks. The lion is the sovereign of all animals. His sovereignty is not appointed by divine right or out of self-righteousness or self-promotion, it is the rightful authority to act. To not act would be to fall from wisdom into the ignorance of selfishness and fear. In this way, the lion is an unerring source of refuge and protection, carrying the bewildered and confused into the peaceful grove of clarity and insight.
In regard to our own mind and self, Vairocana represents the aggregate of form. We are all very attached to our physical bodies; how we feel, how we look. Our fixation on our own condition and state lead us down the rabbit hole of self-grasping and ignorance, further intensifying our fear and discontentment. As we purify this self-grasping and transmute it into wisdom and insight, we are able to break free from the confines of our own limited view and understanding. We can embrace a larger scope.
When we deeply contemplate and integrate the wisdom and symbolism of Vairocana, we can learn how to transmute ignorance and selfishness into an opportunity for wisdom and purpose. We are able to step outside of fear, doubt and uncertainty. We attain the awakened form of the Buddhas that transcends the confines of place and time. The form or shape of our life is one in which we guide, teach and lead others out of confusion and habitual patterns into wisdom and clarity. Our body becomes like a rainbow- apparent yet empty of existing in any fixed manner- dancing like an illusion that carries out the benefit of others, teaching them how to overcome conflict and problems, setting out the path and providing the support and resources to embody their own awakened form.
To attain such a state would be unsurpassed- for not only would you have fulfilled your own aims, but you would have fulfilled the aims of others.
Go ride that lion.
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